Biking back to my rented cottage from CERN one autumn evening, having descended into the underworld of matter for a visit to the world’s largest high-energy particle collider, a sight stopped…
By Maria Popova
Biking back to my rented cottage from CERN one autumn evening, having descended into the underworld of matter for a visit to the world’s largest high-energy particle collider, a sight stopped me up short on the shore of Lake Geneva: In the orange sky over the orange water, myriad particles were swarming in unison without colliding. Except they were not particles — they were birds. Thousands of them. A murmuration of starlings — swarm intelligence at its most majestic, emergence incarnate, a living reminder that the universe is “nothing but a vast, self-organizing, complex system, the emergent properties of which are… everything.”
Appreciating the avian diversity that’s there to astound us—if only we look.
By Jessica Leber
There are only two species of turkey in the world, and we’re all familiar with one: the Wild Turkey. A magnificent bird first domesticated by the Aztecs and later again by Native Americans, its farm-bred form will fill our Thanksgiving plates this November, while wild flocks continue their decades-long recovery from overhunting and habitat loss across the eastern United States.
Let’s first take a minute to appreciate the Wild Turkey’s comeback, or perhaps even savor its sweet revenge as the birds apparently terrorize growing swaths of suburbia.
The webcam, set up by the Moorland Association, is the first in England to document hen harriers in real time.
A mesmerising live stream of hen harriers nesting on the Swinton Estate in Yorkshire is providing a rare glimpse into the lives of England’s rarest birds of prey.
The webcam, set up by the Moorland Association, is the first in England to document hen harriers in real time.
It features footage of two adults and five chicks, which are expected to fledge towards the end of June.
A mesmerising live stream of hen harriers nesting on the Swinton Estate in Yorkshire is providing a rare glimpse into the lives of England’s rarest birds of prey.
The webcam, set up by the Moorland Association, is the first in England to document hen harriers in real time.
It features footage of two adults and five chicks, which are expected to fledge towards the end of June.
Ever since the introduction of grouse shooting in the Victorian era, birds of prey such as the hen harrier have been under threat.
Hen harriers nest and roost in heather and on open, upland moors, in close proximity to each other.
They often feed on the eggs of grouse, which also dominate the area and provide a lucrative driven grouse shooting season.
This has led to hen harriers being killed in huge numbers, causing their numbers to drop.
The Moorland Association has championed efforts to help re-establish a breeding population of hen harriers in England since 2016, in partnership with Defra and other conservation partners.
The hen harrier brood management scheme trial involves removing some chicks from nests to rear them in captivity if multiple nests are made on grouse moors.
In the five years before the trial began, only 51 chicks fledged in England.
Since its introduction in 2018, however, 224 hen harrier chicks have fledged successfully.
A survey in August 2021, found that 77 hen harriers had been born that year, following on from a the previous year’s record of 60.
The fifth year of the trial is now underway.
Now the Moorland Association is showing off the success of its conservation efforts with the launch of a new webcam project.
The live web camera, situated at Swinton Estate in Yorkshire and broadcasting via YouTube, was set up to help engage the public and provide valuable information on the ecology of breeding hen harriers.
‘This is the first time we have been able to set up a webcam to allow people to feel close to these beautiful birds and watch their progress, thanks to funding from the Wildlife Habitat Charitable Trust,’ said Mark Cunliffe-Lister, Chair of the Moorland Association.
‘As ground-nesting birds they remain exceptionally vulnerable and it is only through the concerted efforts of land managers that we have been able to create the right conditions for them to nest here for several years in a row.
‘There are chicks in the nest now, so the webcam is absolutely enthralling.’
The purchase and installation of the camera was funded through a £5,165 grant by the Wildlife Habitat Charitable Trust.
Swinton has also recorded 44 other species of birds on the estate including Curlew, Fieldfare, Lapwing, Skylark, Song Thrush and Woodcock.
A pair of Western Ospreys has laid an egg at a secret site in the Poole Harbour area of Dorset, making it the first nesting attempt in southern England in almost 200 years.
The striking bird of prey was once widespread across Western Europe, but was routinely persecuted until becoming widely extirpated in the early 1800s. The nesting attempt is the result of an osprey reintroduction project which began in 2017, carried out by the charities Birds of Poole Harbour and Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation in an effort to restore a population across its historic range.
The pair, known as CJ7 and 022, first met last spring having made their migration back to Poole Harbour from their wintering grounds in West Africa. The female, CJ7, first visited Poole Harbour in 2017 during the first year of the reintroduction project, but has shown interest in nesting here every year since, visiting purpose-built nesting platforms installed to attract ospreys to breed. The male, 022, was released as part of the reintroduction programme during 2019, before making his first migration and spending two years maturing in his wintering grounds. He then returned for the first time on 18 May 2021, which is when he first met CJ7, although he was too young to breed at the time. The couple spent the summer of 2021 pair bonding and establishing nesting territories, indicating that they were keen on breeding here in the future. Both left Poole Harbour in early September 2021 and those involved in the project kept everything crossed for their safe return this spring.
Paul Morton of Birds of Poole Harbour said: “When 022 and CJ7 left on migration last autumn, we then had an anxious time waiting seven months to see if they had survived the journey. Flying from Britain to West Africa and back again is incredibly dangerous, with the birds facing many challenges along the way including the Sahara Desert, adverse weather conditions and illegal hunting. Luckily they both returned safely earlier this month, with CJ7 arriving on 5 April and 022 a few days later on 10 April. Having spent the whole of last summer together their instincts to breed this summer kicked in straight away and the pair settled on a nest, which is exactly what we were hoping to see.”
Western Osprey’s diet consists solely of fish, which is one of the reasons Poole Harbour was selected for the reintroduction project. Ospreys that breed in Scotland and northern England pass through the harbour on migration each spring and autumn, feeding on species such as Grey Mullet and Flounder, before continuing on their journey. With the harbour’s large shallow channels and bays, ospreys find hunting incredibly easy and 022 can now regularly be seen hunting in the harbour. Should the breeding attempt be successful, he will be responsible for providing fish for the whole family throughout the rest of the season.
Appreciating the avian diversity that’s there to astound us—if only we look.